Valve announces Steam Broadcasting as Twitch rival

Valve has revealed a new in-game streaming platform to allow users to share their footage and tune into others’.

The Steam Broadcasting beta, which arrives on the scene to rival services like Amazon-owned Twitch, is available immediately, free of charge, to any user who wants to opt in.

If Steam patrons see a friend is playing they will simply to able to click on “Watch Game” from their profile in order tune into the action.

Valve says it may limit the number of concurrent users each stream receives, during this test phase, as it seeks to open up access to as many users as possible.

Steam members can get in on the action by selecting Settings > Account from the main menu and changing Beta Participation to Steam Beta Update.

The launch comes during an increasingly competitive period for in-game broadcasting. Amazon’s billion dollar purchase of Twitch raised the stakes. That service has snared just shy of 50m users, while some of the most popular YouTube channels are from users uploading game footage.

If you’re planning to give Steam Broadcast a shot, share your experiences below and let us know what you think